Paradiso, Canto 20
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XX completes the Jupiter Eagle's answer by turning from the collective voice of justice to the individual lights that form the Eagle's eye. Dante compares the Eagle's silence to evening, when the sun leaves our hemisphere and the sky becomes visible by many stars in which one light shines. The living lights grow brighter and begin songs that fall from memory. Sweet love appears smiling in holy flutes, then the angelic peals fall silent and Dante hears a river-like murmur descend through the Eagle's body. Like sound forming at a cithern's neck or wind in a bagpipe, the murmur rises through the Eagle's hollow-seeming neck and becomes voice in its beak. The Eagle tells Dante to gaze fixedly at its eye, because the fires that sparkle there are highest in degree. David, singer of the Holy Spirit and mover of the Ark, shines as the pupil and now knows the merit of his song according to the part his own counsel had in it. Around the brow stand five rulers and just souls. Trajan, nearest the beak, comforted the widow and now knows the cost of not following Christ through experience of Heaven and its opposite. Hezekiah, on the upper arc, delayed death by true penitence and now knows that eternal judgment is not changed when worthy prayer makes tomorrow of today. Constantine, whose good intention bore bad fruit, made himself, the laws, and the Eagle Greek by yielding to the pastor, and now knows the derived evil does not harm him though the world be ruined by it. William II of Sicily, in the descending arc, is mourned by a land that still weeps for living Charles and Frederick, and his radiance shows how Heaven loves a just king. Ripheus the Trojan, most surprising to the erring world, is the fifth holy light and now knows much of divine grace, though not its bottom. The Eagle grows quiet like a lark content after song, imprint of the Eternal Pleasure by whose desire each thing becomes itself. Dante cannot keep silent; his doubt presses the question from his mouth, and the Eagle rejoices with greater brightness. It answers that Dante believes because the Eagle says so, but does not see how, like one who knows a thing by name but not its quiddity. The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from ardent love and living hope, which conquer divine will because divine will wants to be conquered and, conquered, conquers by its kindness. Trajan and Ripheus did not leave their bodies as Gentiles but as Christians, one believing in the feet that had suffered and one in the feet that were to suffer. Trajan returned from Hell to his bones as the reward of living hope and the prayers that raised him so his will could be moved; briefly restored to flesh, he believed in Christ and burned with true love. Ripheus, by grace from a fountain too deep for creaturely sight, set all his love on righteousness, so God opened his eye to future redemption; he believed, could no longer endure paganism's stench, and rebuked perverse peoples. Faith, hope, and charity served him as baptism more than a thousand years before baptism. The Eagle apostrophizes predestination as rooted far beyond those who do not see the First Cause whole, then warns mortals to judge narrowly: even the blessed who see God do not yet know all the elect, and that lack is sweet because their good is refined in willing what God wills. The canto closes with the Eagle's answer as sweet medicine for Dante's short sight, while the two blessed lights, Trajan and Ripheus, move their little flames with the words like concordant eyes.
Narrative arc
- Evening sky, many lights, holy song, river murmur, and musical instruments turn the silent Eagle into speech
- The Eagle directs Dante to its eye, where David shines as pupil, singer of the Holy Spirit, Ark bearer, and rewarded author
- The five lights around the brow identify Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William II, and Ripheus through justice, prayer, consequence, kingship, and grace
- The lark-like Eagle falls silent, Dante's doubt presses out the question, and the Eagle distinguishes belief from understanding quiddity
- The Eagle explains how Heaven's kingdom is conquered by love and hope, then applies the paradox to Trajan's restored will, faith, and true love
- Ripheus is saved by unfathomable grace, future faith, and the three theological virtues, and predestination exceeds mortal and even blessed knowledge
- The Eagle's answer becomes medicine for Dante's short sight, and the two blessed lights move like concordant eyes with the words
Central themes
- justice
- rulership
- judgment
Evening sky, many lights, holy song, river murmur, and musical instruments turn the silent Eagle into speech XX.1–30
1Quando colui che tutto ’l mondo alluma
de l’emisperio nostro sì discende,
che ’l giorno d’ogne parte si consuma,
lo ciel, che sol di lui prima s’accende,
5subitamente si rifà parvente
per molte luci, in che una risplende;
e questo atto del ciel mi venne a mente,
come ’l segno del mondo e de’ suoi duci
nel benedetto rostro fu tacente;
10però che tutte quelle vive luci,
vie più lucendo, cominciaron canti
da mia memoria labili e caduci.
O dolce amor che di riso t’ammanti,
quanto parevi ardente in que’ flailli,
15ch’avieno spirto sol di pensier santi!
Poscia che i cari e lucidi lapilli
ond’ io vidi ingemmato il sesto lume
puoser silenzio a li angelici squilli,
udir mi parve un mormorar di fiume
20che scende chiaro giù di pietra in pietra,
mostrando l’ubertà del suo cacume.
E come suono al collo de la cetra
prende sua forma, e sì com’ al pertugio
de la sampogna vento che penètra,
25così, rimosso d’aspettare indugio,
quel mormorar de l’aguglia salissi
su per lo collo, come fosse bugio.
Fecesi voce quivi, e quindi uscissi
per lo suo becco in forma di parole,
30quali aspettava il core ov’ io le scrissi.
1When he who lights the whole world
descends so far from our hemisphere
that day is spent away on every side,
the sky, which first is kindled by him alone,
5suddenly makes itself visible again
through many lights, in which one light shines;
and this action of the sky came to my mind
when the sign of the world and of its leaders
fell silent in the blessed beak;
10for all those living lights,
shining far more brightly, began songs
slippery and fallen from my memory.
O sweet love, who mantle yourself with smiling,
how ardent you seemed in those flutes,
15which had breath only from holy thoughts!
After the dear and shining little stones
with which I saw the sixth light jeweled
set silence on the angelic peals,
I seemed to hear the murmuring of a river
20that descends clear down from stone to stone,
showing the abundance of its summit.
And as sound takes its form at the cithern's neck,
and as, at the opening
of the bagpipe, the wind that enters,
25so, delay in waiting removed,
that murmur of the Eagle rose
up through its neck, as if it were hollow.
There it became voice, and from there issued
through its beak in the form of words,
30such as the heart on which I wrote them awaited.
Commentary
The Eagle moves from silence to song and speech through evening sky, one light reflected in many lights, holy flutes, river murmur, cithern, bagpipe, hollow neck, and beak.
XX.1–3 The periphrasis for the sun sets up the one-light/many-lights pattern of Jupiter's Eagle.
XX.1–3 The periphrasis for the sun sets up the one-light/many-lights pattern of Jupiter's Eagle. Line 1: The periphrasis for the sun sets up the one-light/many-lights pattern of Jupiter's Eagle.
XX.1 The periphrasis for the sun sets up the one-light/many-lights pattern of Jupiter's Eagle. The periphrasis for the sun sets up the one-light/many-lights pattern of Jupiter's Eagle.
XX.4–6 The single source in many lights anticipates the many souls composing one Eagle.
XX.4–6 The single source in many lights anticipates the many souls composing one Eagle. Line 6: The single source in many lights anticipates the many souls composing one Eagle.
XX.6 The single source in many lights anticipates the many souls composing one Eagle. The single source in many lights anticipates the many souls composing one Eagle.
XX.7–9 Segno keeps the emblematic Eagle pressure from Paradiso VI, XVIII, and XIX.
XX.7–9 Segno keeps the emblematic Eagle pressure from Paradiso VI, XVIII, and XIX. Line 8: Segno keeps the emblematic Eagle pressure from Paradiso VI, XVIII, and XIX.
XX.8 Segno keeps the emblematic Eagle pressure from Paradiso VI, XVIII, and XIX. Segno keeps the emblematic Eagle pressure from Paradiso VI, XVIII, and XIX.
XX.10–12 Labili e caduci keeps both loss and falling-away from memory.
XX.10–12 Labili e caduci keeps both loss and falling-away from memory. Line 12: Labili e caduci keeps both loss and falling-away from memory.
XX.12 Labili e caduci keeps both loss and falling-away from memory. Labili e caduci keeps both loss and falling-away from memory.
XX.13–15 Flailli is kept in the field of wind instruments, preparing the bagpipe image.
XX.13–15 Flailli is kept in the field of wind instruments, preparing the bagpipe image. Line 14: Flailli is kept in the field of wind instruments, preparing the bagpipe image.
XX.14 Flailli is kept in the field of wind instruments, preparing the bagpipe image. Flailli is kept in the field of wind instruments, preparing the bagpipe image.
XX.19–21 Cacume keeps the mountain-source image rather than generic origin.
XX.19–21 Cacume keeps the mountain-source image rather than generic origin. Line 21: Cacume keeps the mountain-source image rather than generic origin.
XX.21 Cacume keeps the mountain-source image rather than generic origin. Cacume keeps the mountain-source image rather than generic origin.
XX.28–30 The heart as writing surface keeps the receiving, remembered testimony active.
XX.28–30 The heart as writing surface keeps the receiving, remembered testimony active. Line 30: The heart as writing surface keeps the receiving, remembered testimony active.
XX.30 The heart as writing surface keeps the receiving, remembered testimony active. The heart as writing surface keeps the receiving, remembered testimony active.
The Eagle directs Dante to its eye, where David shines as pupil, singer of the Holy Spirit, Ark bearer, and rewarded author XX.31–42
31«La parte in me che vede e pate il sole
ne l’aguglie mortali», incominciommi,
«or fisamente riguardar si vole,
perché d’i fuochi ond’ io figura fommi,
35quelli onde l’occhio in testa mi scintilla,
e’ di tutti lor gradi son li sommi.
Colui che luce in mezzo per pupilla,
fu il cantor de lo Spirito Santo,
che l’arca traslatò di villa in villa:
40ora conosce il merto del suo canto,
in quanto effetto fu del suo consiglio,
per lo remunerar ch’è altrettanto.
31"The part in me that sees and bears the sun
in mortal eagles," it began to me,
"now must be gazed at fixedly,
because, of the fires from which I make my figure,
35those through which the eye in my head sparkles
are, of all their ranks, the highest.
He who shines in the middle as the pupil
was the singer of the Holy Spirit,
who bore the Ark from town to town:
40now he knows the merit of his song,
insofar as it was the effect of his own counsel,
through the reward that is equal to it.
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: The Eagle directs Dante to its eye, where David shines as pupil, singer of the Holy Spirit, Ark bearer, and rewarded author.
XX.31–33 Medieval eagle lore makes the eye the faculty able to endure the sun.
XX.31–33 Medieval eagle lore makes the eye the faculty able to endure the sun. Line 32: Medieval eagle lore makes the eye the faculty able to endure the sun.
XX.32 Medieval eagle lore makes the eye the faculty able to endure the sun. Medieval eagle lore makes the eye the faculty able to endure the sun.
XX.37–39 David is unnamed but identified by position, psalmody, and the Ark.
XX.37–39 David is unnamed but identified by position, psalmody, and the Ark. Line 37: David is unnamed but identified by position, psalmody, and the Ark.
XX.37 David is unnamed but identified by position, psalmody, and the Ark. David is unnamed but identified by position, psalmody, and the Ark.
XX.40–42 The repeated ora conosce structures the catalogue around present blessed knowledge.
XX.40–42 The repeated ora conosce structures the catalogue around present blessed knowledge. Line 40: The repeated ora conosce structures the catalogue around present blessed knowledge.
XX.40 The repeated ora conosce structures the catalogue around present blessed knowledge. The repeated ora conosce structures the catalogue around present blessed knowledge.
The five lights around the brow identify Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William II, and Ripheus through justice, prayer, consequence, kingship, and grace XX.43–72
43Dei cinque che mi fan cerchio per ciglio,
colui che più al becco mi s’accosta,
45la vedovella consolò del figlio:
ora conosce quanto caro costa
non seguir Cristo, per l’esperïenza
di questa dolce vita e de l’opposta.
E quel che segue in la circunferenza
50di che ragiono, per l’arco superno,
morte indugiò per vera penitenza:
ora conosce che ’l giudicio etterno
non si trasmuta, quando degno preco
fa crastino là giù de l’odïerno.
55L’altro che segue, con le leggi e meco,
sotto buona intenzion che fé mal frutto,
per cedere al pastor si fece greco:
ora conosce come il mal dedutto
dal suo bene operar non li è nocivo,
60avvegna che sia ’l mondo indi distrutto.
E quel che vedi ne l’arco declivo,
Guiglielmo fu, cui quella terra plora
che piagne Carlo e Federigo vivo:
ora conosce come s’innamora
65lo ciel del giusto rege, e al sembiante
del suo fulgore il fa vedere ancora.
Chi crederebbe giù nel mondo errante
che Rifëo Troiano in questo tondo
fosse la quinta de le luci sante?
70Ora conosce assai di quel che ’l mondo
veder non può de la divina grazia,
ben che sua vista non discerna il fondo».
43Of the five who make a circle for my brow,
the one who comes closest to my beak
45comforted the little widow for her son:
now he knows how dearly it costs
not to follow Christ, through the experience
of this sweet life and of its opposite.
And the one who follows in the circumference
50of which I speak, along the upper arc,
delayed death through true penitence:
now he knows that the eternal judgment
is not transmuted when worthy prayer
down there makes tomorrow of today.
55The other who follows, with the laws and me,
under a good intention that made bad fruit,
made himself Greek by yielding to the shepherd:
now he knows how the evil drawn
from his good action is not harmful to him,
60although the world is ruined by it.
And the one you see on the descending arc
was William, whom that land mourns
which weeps for Charles and Frederick alive:
now he knows how Heaven falls in love
65with a just king, and by the semblance
of his radiance still makes it seen.
Who would believe, down in the erring world,
that Ripheus the Trojan, in this round,
was the fifth of the holy lights?
70Now he knows much of what the world
cannot see of divine grace,
although his sight does not discern the bottom."
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: The five lights around the brow identify Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William II, and Ripheus through justice, prayer, consequence, kingship, and grace.
XX.43–45 Trajan is identified by the widow scene already sculpted on the first terrace of Purgatorio.
XX.43–45 Trajan is identified by the widow scene already sculpted on the first terrace of Purgatorio. Line 45: Trajan is identified by the widow scene already sculpted on the first terrace of Purgatorio.
XX.45 Trajan is identified by the widow scene already sculpted on the first terrace of Purgatorio. Trajan is identified by the widow scene already sculpted on the first terrace of Purgatorio.
XX.49–51 The unnamed figure is Hezekiah, whose life extension keeps prayer and decree in tension.
XX.49–51 The unnamed figure is Hezekiah, whose life extension keeps prayer and decree in tension. Line 51: The unnamed figure is Hezekiah, whose life extension keeps prayer and decree in tension.
XX.51 The unnamed figure is Hezekiah, whose life extension keeps prayer and decree in tension. The unnamed figure is Hezekiah, whose life extension keeps prayer and decree in tension.
XX.52–54 Prece is kept as prayer, not mere request, because the line bears the predestination/intercession crux.
XX.52–54 Prece is kept as prayer, not mere request, because the line bears the predestination/intercession crux. Line 53: Prece is kept as prayer, not mere request, because the line bears the predestination/intercession crux.
XX.53 Prece is kept as prayer, not mere request, because the line bears the predestination/intercession crux. Prece is kept as prayer, not mere request, because the line bears the predestination/intercession crux.
XX.55–57 Constantine's intention is distinguished from the historical damage Dante assigns to the Donation and eastern transfer.
XX.55–57 Constantine's intention is distinguished from the historical damage Dante assigns to the Donation and eastern transfer. Line 56: Constantine's intention is distinguished from the historical damage Dante assigns to the Donation and eastern transfer.
XX.56 Constantine's intention is distinguished from the historical damage Dante assigns to the Donation and eastern transfer. Constantine's intention is distinguished from the historical damage Dante assigns to the Donation and eastern transfer.
XX.61–63 William is William II of Sicily, placed against later Angevin and Aragonese disorder.
XX.61–63 William is William II of Sicily, placed against later Angevin and Aragonese disorder. Line 62: William is William II of Sicily, placed against later Angevin and Aragonese disorder.
XX.62 William is William II of Sicily, placed against later Angevin and Aragonese disorder. William is William II of Sicily, placed against later Angevin and Aragonese disorder.
XX.67–69 Ripheus is kept as the classical just-pagan shock point from the Aeneid tradition.
XX.67–69 Ripheus is kept as the classical just-pagan shock point from the Aeneid tradition. Line 68: Ripheus is kept as the classical just-pagan shock point from the Aeneid tradition.
XX.68 Ripheus is kept as the classical just-pagan shock point from the Aeneid tradition. Ripheus is kept as the classical just-pagan shock point from the Aeneid tradition.
XX.70–72 Even saved Ripheus does not exhaust the depth of grace.
XX.70–72 Even saved Ripheus does not exhaust the depth of grace. Line 72: Even saved Ripheus does not exhaust the depth of grace.
XX.72 Even saved Ripheus does not exhaust the depth of grace. Even saved Ripheus does not exhaust the depth of grace.
The lark-like Eagle falls silent, Dante's doubt presses out the question, and the Eagle distinguishes belief from understanding quiddity XX.73–93
73Quale allodetta che ’n aere si spazia
prima cantando, e poi tace contenta
75de l’ultima dolcezza che la sazia,
tal mi sembiò l’imago de la ’mprenta
de l’etterno piacere, al cui disio
ciascuna cosa qual ell’ è diventa.
E avvegna ch’io fossi al dubbiar mio
80lì quasi vetro a lo color ch’el veste,
tempo aspettar tacendo non patio,
ma de la bocca, «Che cose son queste?»,
mi pinse con la forza del suo peso:
per ch’io di coruscar vidi gran feste.
85Poi appresso, con l’occhio più acceso,
lo benedetto segno mi rispuose
per non tenermi in ammirar sospeso:
«Io veggio che tu credi queste cose
perch’ io le dico, ma non vedi come;
90sì che, se son credute, sono ascose.
Fai come quei che la cosa per nome
apprende ben, ma la sua quiditate
veder non può se altri non la prome.
73Like a little lark that ranges in the air,
first singing, and then falls silent, content
75with the final sweetness that satisfies it,
so the image of the imprint seemed to me
of the eternal Pleasure, by whose desire
each thing becomes what it is.
And although, to my doubting, I was there
80almost like glass to the color it clothes,
it did not endure waiting time in silence,
but from my mouth, "What things are these?"
it pushed with the force of its own weight:
so that I saw great feasts of flashing.
85Then afterward, with its eye more kindled,
the blessed sign answered me
so as not to hold me suspended in wonder:
"I see that you believe these things
because I say them, but you do not see how;
90so that, though they are believed, they are hidden.
You do as one who understands the thing by name
well enough, but cannot see
its quiddity unless another sets it forth.
Commentary
The lark simile, Dante's transparent doubt, and the question about these things prepare the Eagle's distinction between believing the claim and seeing its quiddity.
XX.76–78 Piacere is capitalized as Eternal Pleasure to mark divine willing without losing the delight term.
XX.76–78 Piacere is capitalized as Eternal Pleasure to mark divine willing without losing the delight term. Line 77: Piacere is capitalized as Eternal Pleasure to mark divine willing without losing the delight term.
XX.77 Piacere is capitalized as Eternal Pleasure to mark divine willing without losing the delight term. Piacere is capitalized as Eternal Pleasure to mark divine willing without losing the delight term.
XX.79–81 Dante's doubt is transparent before the blessed sign.
XX.79–81 Dante's doubt is transparent before the blessed sign. Line 80: Dante's doubt is transparent before the blessed sign.
XX.80 Dante's doubt is transparent before the blessed sign. Dante's doubt is transparent before the blessed sign.
XX.91–93 Quiditate is retained as quiddity because Dante marks a scholastic whatness problem directly.
XX.91–93 Quiditate is retained as quiddity because Dante marks a scholastic whatness problem directly. Line 93: Quiditate is retained as quiddity because Dante marks a scholastic whatness problem directly.
XX.93 Quiditate is retained as quiddity because Dante marks a scholastic whatness problem directly. Quiditate is retained as quiddity because Dante marks a scholastic whatness problem directly.
The Eagle explains how Heaven's kingdom is conquered by love and hope, then applies the paradox to Trajan's restored will, faith, and true love XX.94–117
94Regnum celorum vïolenza pate
95da caldo amore e da viva speranza,
che vince la divina volontate:
non a guisa che l’omo a l’om sobranza,
ma vince lei perché vuole esser vinta,
e, vinta, vince con sua beninanza.
100La prima vita del ciglio e la quinta
ti fa maravigliar, perché ne vedi
la regïon de li angeli dipinta.
D’i corpi suoi non uscir, come credi,
Gentili, ma Cristiani, in ferma fede
105quel d’i passuri e quel d’i passi piedi.
Ché l’una de lo ’nferno, u’ non si riede
già mai a buon voler, tornò a l’ossa;
e ciò di viva spene fu mercede:
di viva spene, che mise la possa
110ne’ prieghi fatti a Dio per suscitarla,
sì che potesse sua voglia esser mossa.
L’anima glorïosa onde si parla,
tornata ne la carne, in che fu poco,
credette in lui che potëa aiutarla;
115e credendo s’accese in tanto foco
di vero amor, ch’a la morte seconda
fu degna di venire a questo gioco.
94Regnum celorum suffers violence
95from ardent love and from living hope,
which conquers the divine will:
not in the way that one man overcomes another,
but conquers it because it wills to be conquered,
and, conquered, conquers by its kindness.
100The first life of the brow and the fifth
make you marvel, because you see
the region of the angels painted with them.
They did not go out from their bodies, as you think,
as Gentiles, but as Christians, in firm faith,
105one in the feet to suffer, and one in the feet already suffered.
For one from Hell, where no one ever returns
to good will, returned to his bones;
and this was the reward of living hope:
of living hope, which put power
110into the prayers made to God to raise it up,
so that his will could be moved.
The glorious soul of whom we speak,
returned to the flesh, in which it stayed briefly,
believed in him who could help it;
115and believing, caught fire with such a flame
of true love that, at the second death,
it was worthy to come to this play.
Commentary
The Latin Regnum celorum and the paradox of divine will conquered because it wills to be conquered are preserved as the theological hinge for Trajan: living hope, prayer, restored flesh, moved will, faith, true love, and the second death.
XX.94–96 The Latin is retained as the canto's scriptural hinge.
XX.94–96 The Latin is retained as the canto's scriptural hinge. Line 94: The Latin is retained as the canto's scriptural hinge.
XX.94 The Latin is retained as the canto's scriptural hinge. The Latin is retained as the canto's scriptural hinge.
XX.97–99 The repeated conquer/conquered paradox is preserved rather than normalized.
XX.97–99 The repeated conquer/conquered paradox is preserved rather than normalized. Line 99: The repeated conquer/conquered paradox is preserved rather than normalized.
XX.99 The repeated conquer/conquered paradox is preserved rather than normalized. The repeated conquer/conquered paradox is preserved rather than normalized.
XX.100–102 The first and fifth are Trajan and Ripheus, the two figures that most trouble Dante's understanding.
XX.100–102 The first and fifth are Trajan and Ripheus, the two figures that most trouble Dante's understanding. Line 100: The first and fifth are Trajan and Ripheus, the two figures that most trouble Dante's understanding.
XX.100 The first and fifth are Trajan and Ripheus, the two figures that most trouble Dante's understanding. The first and fifth are Trajan and Ripheus, the two figures that most trouble Dante's understanding.
XX.103–105 The compressed Christological contrast keeps faith before and after the Passion.
XX.103–105 The compressed Christological contrast keeps faith before and after the Passion. Line 105: The compressed Christological contrast keeps faith before and after the Passion.
XX.105 The compressed Christological contrast keeps faith before and after the Passion. The compressed Christological contrast keeps faith before and after the Passion.
XX.106–108 Trajan's legendary return preserves the otherwise impossible movement from Hell back to will.
XX.106–108 Trajan's legendary return preserves the otherwise impossible movement from Hell back to will. Line 107: Trajan's legendary return preserves the otherwise impossible movement from Hell back to will.
XX.107 Trajan's legendary return preserves the otherwise impossible movement from Hell back to will. Trajan's legendary return preserves the otherwise impossible movement from Hell back to will.
XX.109–111 Voglia is will/desire in motion, not a change in eternal judgment.
XX.109–111 Voglia is will/desire in motion, not a change in eternal judgment. Line 111: Voglia is will/desire in motion, not a change in eternal judgment.
XX.111 Voglia is will/desire in motion, not a change in eternal judgment. Voglia is will/desire in motion, not a change in eternal judgment.
XX.115–117 Gioco keeps the blessed play/festivity of Paradise, not a casual game.
XX.115–117 Gioco keeps the blessed play/festivity of Paradise, not a casual game. Line 117: Gioco keeps the blessed play/festivity of Paradise, not a casual game.
XX.117 Gioco keeps the blessed play/festivity of Paradise, not a casual game. Gioco keeps the blessed play/festivity of Paradise, not a casual game.
Ripheus is saved by unfathomable grace, future faith, and the three theological virtues, and predestination exceeds mortal and even blessed knowledge XX.118–138
118L’altra, per grazia che da sì profonda
fontana stilla, che mai creatura
120non pinse l’occhio infino a la prima onda,
tutto suo amor là giù pose a drittura:
per che, di grazia in grazia, Dio li aperse
l’occhio a la nostra redenzion futura;
ond’ ei credette in quella, e non sofferse
125da indi il puzzo più del paganesmo;
e riprendiene le genti perverse.
Quelle tre donne li fur per battesmo
che tu vedesti da la destra rota,
dinanzi al battezzar più d’un millesmo.
130O predestinazion, quanto remota
è la radice tua da quelli aspetti
che la prima cagion non veggion tota!
E voi, mortali, tenetevi stretti
a giudicar: ché noi, che Dio vedemo,
135non conosciamo ancor tutti li eletti;
ed ènne dolce così fatto scemo,
perché il ben nostro in questo ben s’affina,
che quel che vole Iddio, e noi volemo».
118The other, through grace that distills
from so deep a fountain that no creature
120ever thrust its eye as far as the first wave,
set all his love down there on righteousness:
so that, from grace to grace, God opened
his eye to our future redemption;
from which he believed in it, and no longer endured
125from then on the stench of paganism;
and rebuked the perverse peoples for it.
Those three ladies were for him as baptism,
whom you saw at the right wheel,
more than a millennium before baptizing.
130O predestination, how remote
your root is from those sights
that do not see the First Cause whole!
And you mortals, keep yourselves restrained
in judging: for we, who see God,
135do not yet know all the elect;
and such a lack is sweet to us,
because our good is refined in this good,
that what God wills, we also will."
Commentary
Ripheus is kept inside Dante's predestination crux: grace from an unfathomable fountain orders his love to righteousness, opens his eye to future redemption, and lets the three theological virtues stand in for baptism before baptism.
XX.118–120 The water-depth image resumes the limits of sight before divine grace.
XX.118–120 The water-depth image resumes the limits of sight before divine grace. Line 120: The water-depth image resumes the limits of sight before divine grace.
XX.120 The water-depth image resumes the limits of sight before divine grace. The water-depth image resumes the limits of sight before divine grace.
XX.121–123 Drittura links Ripheus' love to justice and right order.
XX.121–123 Drittura links Ripheus' love to justice and right order. Line 121: Drittura links Ripheus' love to justice and right order.
XX.121 Drittura links Ripheus' love to justice and right order. Drittura links Ripheus' love to justice and right order.
XX.127–129 The three ladies are faith, hope, and charity from the right wheel of the Church-chariot.
XX.127–129 The three ladies are faith, hope, and charity from the right wheel of the Church-chariot. Line 127: The three ladies are faith, hope, and charity from the right wheel of the Church-chariot.
XX.127 The three ladies are faith, hope, and charity from the right wheel of the Church-chariot. The three ladies are faith, hope, and charity from the right wheel of the Church-chariot.
XX.130–132 Tota keeps the whole/complete sight pressure behind predestination.
XX.130–132 Tota keeps the whole/complete sight pressure behind predestination. Line 132: Tota keeps the whole/complete sight pressure behind predestination.
XX.132 Tota keeps the whole/complete sight pressure behind predestination. Tota keeps the whole/complete sight pressure behind predestination.
XX.133–135 The warning extends Paradiso XIX's rebuke of bench judgment into predestination.
XX.133–135 The warning extends Paradiso XIX's rebuke of bench judgment into predestination. Line 135: The warning extends Paradiso XIX's rebuke of bench judgment into predestination.
XX.135 The warning extends Paradiso XIX's rebuke of bench judgment into predestination. The warning extends Paradiso XIX's rebuke of bench judgment into predestination.
XX.136–138 Blessed ignorance is not deprivation in rebellion but concord with divine will.
XX.136–138 Blessed ignorance is not deprivation in rebellion but concord with divine will. Line 138: Blessed ignorance is not deprivation in rebellion but concord with divine will.
XX.138 Blessed ignorance is not deprivation in rebellion but concord with divine will. Blessed ignorance is not deprivation in rebellion but concord with divine will.
The Eagle's answer becomes medicine for Dante's short sight, and the two blessed lights move like concordant eyes with the words XX.139–148
139Così da quella imagine divina,
140per farmi chiara la mia corta vista,
data mi fu soave medicina.
E come a buon cantor buon citarista
fa seguitar lo guizzo de la corda,
in che più di piacer lo canto acquista,
145sì, mentre ch’e’ parlò, sì mi ricorda
ch’io vidi le due luci benedette,
pur come batter d’occhi si concorda,
con le parole mover le fiammette.
139Thus from that divine image,
140to make my short sight clear,
sweet medicine was given to me.
And as for a good singer a good cithern-player
makes the string's quiver follow,
whereby the song gains more pleasure,
145so, while it spoke, I remember
that I saw the two blessed lights,
just as the blinking of eyes accords,
moving their little flames with the words.
Commentary
The closing medicine and lute/singer simile keep the canto's correction of Dante's short sight joined to harmonious speech; the two saved pagan lights move like concordant blinking eyes.
XX.145–147 The two lights are Trajan and Ripheus, the canto's chief predestination marvels.
XX.145–147 The two lights are Trajan and Ripheus, the canto's chief predestination marvels. Line 146: The two lights are Trajan and Ripheus, the canto's chief predestination marvels.
XX.146 The two lights are Trajan and Ripheus, the canto's chief predestination marvels. The two lights are Trajan and Ripheus, the canto's chief predestination marvels.